(this is what the weather forecast for San Jose showed every time I checked, while still in Germany)

On leaving Germany and moving to Costa Rica, and then to Ecuador

Comments, compliments... no complaints, with the exception of mosquitoes, but that's biodiversity for you! :)

Monday, February 12, 2007

My first days in Costa Rica

I arrived last Tuesday and hadn’t had the chance to update the blog…too much going on…

I did send all those boxes on Monday, but unfortunately was not able to visit my boss' wife in the hospital...my backpack decided to explode on me, so I freaked. I still called her and we talked for a while. My amazing boss fixed dinner and took me to the train station... AT MIDNIGHT!

At some point I realized this was going to be the last time I saw Leipzig...at least for a while, so I was a little sad...but I think the feeling of uncertainty of what was expecting me in the next couple of days somewhat diluted this feeling...

Although everything was planned in such a way that I would sleep on the train...I couldn't...so I arrived in Frankfurt slightly grumpy...the best part of this trip was that I was travelling on a Tuesday, so I got three seats for myself on each flight...this makes a great difference, since, although I couldn't sleep, I spent all this time with my legs stretched out, reading, watching films and enjoying how the Delta flight attendants try to spoil their passengers...

So I travelled for almost 30 hours (didn't fly that long, but travel time was that much between waiting, standing in line, etc.) and didn't sleep a wink! Luckily, the lady I had arranged housing with was waiting for me at the airport. So this part was the easiest one.

I managed to fall asleep around midnight and woke up at 4 am (my alarm clock had somehow reset itself for both time and alarm and it thought it was midnight!!!)...

Wednesday: Had an appointment at the University with the Professor I’ll be working for…really interesting talk…and now he’s left and I have to prepare some material for him. Had lunch with a former exchange student who let me have some food tickets and then went to the library in order to wait for my next meeting at 3 pm. Awful! I was falling asleep at the computer (I had only had four hours’ sleep, after 30 hours of being awake) and was afraid someone would find me under the table after I’d missed my appointments…so I gathered all my belongings and headed for the main building…I had a couple more meetings and a tour of the library, after which I decided I needed to go back and rest. Got the taxi driver’s number out and very boldly asked a person at the library to please call. Luckily everyone in Costa Rica does everything “con mucho gusto” (with great pleasure) :)

Thursday: I tried to experiment with public transportation (since I’m not on the kind of salary that would allow me to come to work by taxi…not even in Latin America). I waited at the apartments’ gate…finally a bus showed up. I didn’t have the correct change…he let me in anyway. The bus left me at almost a kilometer from the university security gate…this road has no sidewalks and people drive really fast almost not expecting to see pedestrians…so there I was, jumping on the bushes on the sides of the road every time I heard a car. Not good. It was also not good that I’d had a late start, which meant it was almost noon by then, the sun really high and me walking around with my backpack and hurt foot…Not good at all. I reached the gate and realized why I had been told there was no way I could ride my bike like I used to in Germany: The guards’ gate is at the top of a hill, with the university at the very bottom…which means, you might be able to ride your bike down the hill (if you're suicidal) but on the way back up you wouldn’t only have to push yourself up, but also your bike…Campus housingThe view was gorgeous…it looked like I was entering some kind of resort. By the time I reached the offices it was time for lunch. I ate and then went to the dean’s secretary’s office: she’d written me an e-mail that I now had a cubicle as well as a telephone, computer and a new e-mail address. Amazing…I almost felt like a real person…except for the lack of sleep, everything was ok :) They also told me they had found a house on campus for me, and gave me the key. I came up to explore (of course it had to be the first one at the top of the hill where the guards are…I think I will lose weight here, whether I want it or not)…walked (or climbed, rather) for approximately 20-25 minutes. Really nice place, with a terrace where you could feel a nice breeze…the only things missing: a hammock and Internet. I hope not for long…

Friday: At some point during the night I must have made up my mind that I wanted to live on campus…so I called a taxi and moved all my stuff around 9 am, since I had a lunch appointment with one of the experts at the university. By 11:30 I had already organized the closet (it’s wonderful!) and was ready to meet this lady. Great conversation…also some insights for my thesis…Friday afternoon: I had to hurry and get a bunch of things done before everyone left for the weekend…I also arranged for someone to pick me up on Saturday morning to take me to Megasuper (big supermarket) were I would buy an iron, among other things. Met a few students at dinner one of whom told me that my neighbor had Internet and was willing to share (for a fee, of course). I had my first visitor: A big spider had decided to have a comfy sleep on my bedspread…I have to admit it startled me…but it was faster than me, so I don’t know where it went…hopefully far, far away…

Saturday: Went shopping until around noon, bought an amazing amount of fruit for a very small price. Also dishes, condiments, clothes hangers…everything you take for granted when you’ve been living somewhere for a long while… Spent the rest of the day rearranging the furniture in the house. Made a couple of friends in the process: a salamander and another spider had made their home under the dining room table, the salamander ran away (into the bedroom wall, I later noticed) and the spider is still trapped under a cup in the study…don’t know what to do with it. Moved the living room to the terrace and the desk to the living room. Now the study place is empty in case someone (human) decided to visit…I hope I can get a bed from the housing department. One thing about these houses on campus: Someone comes in Monday through Saturday and cleans the place, changes towels, throws away the garbage, washes dishes, fills the water pitcher in the fridge with fresh water, changes sheets once a week…they would probably make my bed if I let them…Maybe one of these days I will :)View from my terrace

Sunday: Spent the whole day reading in my new outdoors living room. Also, tested the Tchibo pineapple cutter. AMAZING! You just cut off the top of the pineapple, insert this gadget and turn and turn until it stops. You pull the instrument out of the pineapple skin and you have a spiral of delicious pineapple with no pineapple eyes or core. Simply amazing! I think I’ll be eating a lot of pineapple here, since one of my biggest problems with said fruit was the hard work involved from the moment you bring the whole fruit home until you can actually eat it. Great invention!My outdoors terraceSo now it’s Monday morning (5 am)…I had hoped to have conquered jetlag, but no such luck. I went to sleep at 9 pm last night and promptly woke up at 3 am. My usual 6 hours. Grrrr! Well, I hope things will change this week. One great thing: It will not affect my work since I can still work my normal hours and still crash at 9 pm :)The bridge on the way home

Costa Rica, June 2007

White water rafting, levels III and IV

Costa Rica, March 2007

getting ready for canopying!

Austria, 2006

during a ski trip

The reason I picked my PhD subject (and why I enjoy giving)...

Today (Feb 23rd, 2007) I was given the book "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World", by John Wood, who quotes the Dalai Lama from his book "The Art of Happiness" (I have to order that book!): "the Dalai Lama wrote that when we gave something away, we actually got something back in return: happiness. If we were to use our money simply to buy ourselves things, there would be no end. Acquisition would not produce happiness, as we'd never have the biggest boat, the nicest car, and would be stuck in a perpetual materialist cycle. But if we gave something away to those who are less fortunate, we'd get nothing in return except for a warm feeling in our heart and the knowledge in our brains that we had made the world a better place."